The Limpid Stream

The Limpid Stream (Russian: Светлый ручей, "Svetlyi ruchei", also translated as "The Bright Stream") is a ballet score, Op. 39, in 3 acts, 4 scenes, composed by Dmitri Shostakovich on the libretto by Adrian Piotrovsky and Fedor Lopukhov and choreography by Fedor Lopukhov, premiered in Leningrad (Mikhaylovsky Theatre) in 1935.

Plot

The plot centres around a group of ballet dancers who have been sent to provide sophisticated entertainment to a new Soviet collective farm. After some complicated amorous intrigues, it turns out that the honest country-bumpkins have more to teach the city-folk than the other way round.^[1]

Instrumentation

Woodwinds: piccolo, 2 flutes (flute II = piccolo II), 2 oboes, cor anglais, Eb clarinet, 2 Bb clarinets, bass clarinet (= clarinet III), 2 bassoons, contra-bassoon (= bassoon III)

Brass: 6 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, Brass Band (1 Eb Cornet, 2 Bb Cornets, 2 Bb Trumpets, 2 Eb Altos, 2 Bb Tenors, 2 Bb Baritones, 2 Bb Basses)

Percussion: timpani, triangle, tambourine, snare drums, cymbals, glockenspiel, xylophone, bass drum, gong, wood blocks

Strings: violins, violas, cellos, double basses, harp

Reception

The other two ballet scores written by this Russian composer are The Golden Age, from 1930, and The Bolt, from 1931. "All three were banned shortly after their premieres, leaving Shostakovich's reputation so damaged that he was reluctant ever to write for the lyric stage again." The Bright Stream's deliberately simple-minded melodies, banal harmonies, straightforward rhythms, and garish colors had the work playing successfully in both Leningrad and Moscow from June 1935 through February 1936. However, an editorial in Pravda in early February 1936 condemned the ballet and, by implication, its musical suite; both works were withdrawn.^[2]

Suite

Shostakovich produced a suite from the ballet, Op. 39a, with five movements:

1. Waltz
2. Russian Popular Dance
3. Gallop
4. Adagio
5. Pizzicato Allegretto

Productions

Alexei Ratmansky, currently an artist in residence at the American Ballet Theatre and the former director of the Bolshoi Ballet, first came across the full score of the ballet in a recording made by Gennady Rozhdestvensky in Stockholm in 1995. Unable to restore the original choreography of the ballet, which was never notated, Ratmansky wrote his own choreography and staged the new version of The Limpid Stream with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow in 2003.

In July 2005 the Bolshoi performed The Bright Stream at the Met, and in August 2006, at the Royal Opera House, London.

In January 2011, American Ballet Theatre performed The Bright Stream in Ratmansky's choreography, at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C..

References

External links

• "Dance of Death" by Judith Mackrell, an article in The Guardian
• The Bolshoi Theatre of Russia: The Bright Stream at the Met
• The Kennedy Center Performances: American Ballet Theatre

Dmitri Shostakovich Operas The Nose Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District Moscow, Cheryomushki Katerina Ismailova Orango Ballets The Golden Age The Bolt The Limpid Stream ("The Bright Stream") Symphonies No. 1 in F minor No. 2 in B major ("To October") No. 3 in E♭ major ("The First of May") No. 4 in C minor No. 5 in D minor No. 6 in B minor No. 7 in C major ("Leningrad") No. 8 in C minor No. 9 in E♭ major No. 10 in E minor No. 11 in G minor ("The Year 1905") No. 12 in D minor ("The Year 1917") No. 13 in B♭ minor ("Babi-Yar") No. 14 in G minor No. 15 in A major Concertos Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor Violin Concerto No. 2 in C♯ minor Cello Concerto No. 1 in E♭ major Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major Orchestra works Suite from "The Nose" Suite from "The Golden Age" Suite from "The Bolt" Suite from "The Limpid Stream" Suite from "Encounter at the Elbe" ("Meeting on the Elbe") Suite from "The Gadfly" Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1' Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 Suite for Variety Orchestra Tahiti Trot "Festive Overture" in A major for Orchestra "Novorossiisk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory" for Orchestra Film music The New Babylon Alone Golden Mountains Counterplan The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda The Youth of Maxim Girl Friends The Return of Maxim The Vyborg Side Friends The Great Citizen Zoya Simple People The Young Guard Pirogov Michurin Meeting on the Elbe The Fall of Berlin Belinsky The Unforgettable Year 1919 The Gadfly Five Days, Five Nights Sofiya Perovskaya Hamlet King Lear Vocal music Anti-Formalist Rayok Song of the Forests Suite on Finnish Themes From Jewish Folk Poetry Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti Chamber music String quartets No. 1 in C major No. 2 in A major No. 3 in F major No. 4 in D major No. 5 in B♭ major No. 6 in G major No. 7 in F♯ minor No. 8 in C minor No. 9 in E♭ major No. 10 in A♭ major No. 11 in F minor No. 12 in D♭ major No. 13 in B♭ minor No. 14 in F♯ major No. 15 in E♭ minor Other Cello Sonata in D minor Piano Quintet in G minor Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Quartet Movement in E♭ major (c. 1960s) Viola Sonata Violin Sonata Piano music Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor Twenty-Four Piano Preludes and Fugues "Children's Notebook" (6) Three Fantastic Dances Related articles List of compositions by Dmitri Shostakovich Muddle Instead of Music Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Testimony The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin Post-romanticism Neoclassicism Portal:Classical music

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